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\i  KPOllT 


OF    THE 


SECOND   AUDITOR 


OF    THE 


TREASUKY  iW  TFIK  CONFEDERATE  STATES, 


TO    THE 


HONORABLE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY. 

EXHIBITING    THE 

OPERATIONS  OF  IIIS  OFFICE   FROM  ITS  CREA- 
TION TO  THE  31sT  OF  DECEMBER,  1861, 
INCLUSIVE,   ITS  PRESENT   CON- 
DITION, &c.,  kc. 

MADE  JANUARY  8th,   1862. 


RICHMOND: 

TVI.EFJ,    WI.SE,    ALLEfJRE    ANlt    S^lrTH,    PKS. 

1  8  6  2. 


11  E  P  0  R  T 


OF    THE 


SECOND   AUDITOR 


OF    THE 


TREASURY  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  STATES, 


TO    THE 


HONORABLE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY, 

EXHIBITING    THE 

OPERATIONS  OF  HIS  OFFICE   FROM  ITS  CREA- 
TION TO  THE  31sT  OF  DECEMBER,   1861, 
INCLUSIVE,   ITS   PRESENT   CON- 
DITION, &o.,  &c. 

MADE  JANUARY  8th,   1862. 


R I  C  H  iM  0  N  D : 

TYLER,    WISE,    ALLEGRE    AND    SMITH,    PRS. 
18G2. 


% 


^  'J 


REPOllT. 


Treasury  Department,  ^ 

Second  Auditor's  Office,       > 

January  8th,  1S62.  ) 

Hon.  C.  G.  Memminger, 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury  .* 

Sir  :  On  the  2d  ultimo  I  had  the  honor  to  receive  your 
comraunicntion  of  the  same  (hite,  asking  of  me  "  A  report  of 
the  condition  of  this  office,  the  number  of  accounts  and 
claims  that  have  been  settled,  designating  the  description 
and  the  amount,  the  number  of  accounts  and  claims  on  hand 
for  settlement,  the  number  of  accounts  and  claims  unsettled, 
as  well  as  the  general  condition  of  the  office."  Subsequently, 
at  my  request,  you  consented  that  I  might  delay  the  required 
report,  so  that  it  might  include  the  operations  of  the  office 
to  the  31st  December,  1861,  the  end  of  the  year.  I  have 
accordingly  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  : 

Before  proceeding  to  describe  the  condition  of  the  office, 
as  above  indicated,  I  think  it  material  to  give  you  a  history 
of  its  creation,  my  own  appointment  as  Second  Auditor  and 
its  subsequent  organization.  This  office,  as  you  are  aware, 
was  established  by  act  No.  79,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  appoint 
a  Second  Auditor  of  the  Treasury,  approved  March  15th, 
186 1 ,"  who  is  therein  charged  with  the  auditing  of  all  accounts 
for  the  War  Department,  and  under  the  authority  of  another 
act,  No.  238,  approved  August  3()th,  1861,  the  Second  Audi- 
tor was  designated  by  you  "  to  audit  the  accounts  of  the  res- 
pective States  against  the  Confederacy,"  in  addition  to  all 
those  of  the  War  Department. 

On  the  27th  of  March  I  received  from  President  Davis 
my  commission  as  Second  Auditor,  and  on  the  same  day  took 
the  oath  of  office  as  required  by  law.  Finding  no  accom- 
modations for  opening  and  organizing  the  office,  and  learning 
upon  consultation  with  the   several  military  bureaux,  the 


channels  through  which,  according  to  custom,  they  would 
be  rendered  to  the  Treasury,  that  neitlier  accounts  of  mili- 
tar\  disbursing  officers,  nor  claims  could  be  received  tor  audit 
within  two  or  tliree  weeks  thereafter,  with  your  consent  and 
that  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  I  made  a  visit  to  Washington 
City  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  such  books,  forms  and  pre- 
cedents of  the  old  Government  as  might  prove  highly  useful 
in  our  new  one.  I  must  say,  however,  that  I  met  with  very 
little  success,  for  it  being  well  known  that  I  had  been  an 
officer  of  the  former  for  five  and  twenty  years,  which  posi- 
tion I  had  voluntarily  abandoned  for  service  in  the  latter,  all 
access  to  the  means  of  information  I  desired  was  sternly 
denied  me  by  the  officials  and  employees  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  I 
returned  and  entered  upon  my  duties  about  the  loth  of  April. 
A  few  days  thereafter  you  sent  to  the  office  one  clerk,  Mr. 
Nash,  of  South  Carolina,  and  shortly  after  you  appointed 
the  present  able  and  experienced  book-keeper,  Albert  Ellery, 
Esq.,  who  bad  previously  served  with  great  credit  to  himself 
in  the  same  capacity  in  the  Third  Auditor's  office  in  Wash- 
ington. I  then  proceeded  to  organize  by  opening  a  set  of 
books  and  procuring,  with  some  difficulty  and  delay,  the 
other  necessary  record  books,  with  desks,  stationery,  &c., 
and  upon  a  small  scale,  it  is  true,  commenced  the  oj)Oi'ation3 
of  the  olhce,  with  three  clerks,  (Mr.  Dalton,  of  Ahibama, 
having  been  added,)  but  without  either  chief  clerk  or  mes- 
senger. This  Avas  the  only  force  avc  had  during  the  stay  of 
the  Government  at  Montgomery,  which  was  until  about  the 
2oth  of  ^lay,  when  we  commenced  our  removal  to  Richmond. 
On  our  arrival  at  the  latter  place,  about  the  1st  of  June,  I 
found  no  accommodations  for  the  office  whatever,  and  our 
books  and  furniture  did  not  all  arrive  until  about  two  weeks 
after.  In  the  meantime  heavy  railroad  claims  for  transpor- 
tation and  others,  with  accounts  of  disbursing  officers,  were 
coming  in,  and  very  inconveniently,  though  the  best  the 
circumstances  would  admit  of,  the  labors  of  the  office  were 
resumed  on  the  second  lloor  of  the  Custom  Iluuse  Building, 
where  we  remained  until  about  the  21st  of  August,  wlien  we 
removed  to  our  present  accommodations  in  the  fourth  story 
of  the  Mechanics  Institute,  where  we,  at  present,  occupy 
the  large  room  of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society  and  two 
small  ones  adjoining. 

On  the  29th  of  June,  you  appointed  my  chief  clerk,  Sam'l 
S.  Rind,  Esq.,  who,  for  eight  years  previous  to  the  2()th  of 
April  last,  (when  he  resigned,)  held  the  same  position  in  the 


Third  Auditor's  office  in  Washington,  Your  appointment 
of  clerks  was  then  made  in  the  following  order:  June  1 0th, 
1  ;  July  16th,  1  ;  September  2d,  6th,  9th  and  18th,  6  ;  Oc- 
tober 1st,  5th,  15th,  17th,  18th  and  28th,  6;  November  5th, 
6th  and  28th,  3  ;  December  2d,  13th  and  31st,  3;  and  on 
January  1st,  1862,  2,  which,  including  Messrs.  Ellery, 
Nash  and  Dalton,  previously  mentioned,  and  exclusive  of 
the  chief  clerk,  makes  25,  and  deducting  Mr.  Dalton,  who 
has  been  transferred  to  another  office,  leaves  24  in  all.  One 
of  these,  INIr.  Bowden,  of  North  Carolina,  appointe<l  on  the 
1st  instant,  has  now  appeared  and  qualified.  On  the  28th 
of  August  you  appointed  John  T.  Booth  messenger,  at  a 
salary  of  3tl()  dollars  per  annum. 

I  herewith  enclose  you  a  complete  list  of  the  persons  com- 
posing the  office,  showing  the  nativity  of  each  and  the  State 
from  whicli  each  was  appointed. 

The  ]\lilitary  Bureaux  through  which  the  regular  army 
and  volunteer  accounts  are  rendered  to  this  office  for  settle- 
ment are : 

1st.  That  of  the  Quartermaster  General  who  is,  ex  officio, 
Paymaster  General. 

2d.   The  Commissary  General. 

3d.  The  (Colonel  of  Ordnance. 

4th,  The  Major  of  Engineers. 

5th.  Surgeon  General. 

6th.   Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 

And  lastl}^  but  first  in  difficulty  and  importance,  and  re- 
quiring more  varied  talent  and  experience  than  any  one  of  the 
rest — 7th.  The  numerous  individual  claims  of  every  imagi- 
nable feature  growing  out  of  all  the  rest  of  the  above, 
besides  all  the  claims  of  the  several  Confederate  States  under 
the  special  act  of  Congress  before  alluded  to. 

For  the  various  branches  of  the  military  and  Indian  ser- 
vice above  described,  from  the  beginning  of  the  Confederate 
Government  to  the  present  time,  the  Congress  have  appro- 
priated, which  has  been  charged  upon  the  books  of  this 
office,  the  enormous  sum,  in  the  aggregate,  of  $170,163,486 
24  cents. 

Well  knowing  that  the  nccounts  and  claims  represented, 
and  to  be  representeji  by  these  appropriations,  hitherto  un- 
precedented in  the  history  of  the  continent,  could  not  possi- 
bly be  successfully  managed  by  any  auditor,  however  able, 
without  the  most  perfect  organizaton  and  system  in  every- 
thing, and  profiting  by  past  experience  in  the  accounts  of  the 


6 

^Icxican  war  with  the  United  States,  when  I  had  the  honor 
of  being  mainly  instrumental  in  having  adopted  a  ^;imilar 
course,  which  as  long  as  it  was  vigorously  and  f.iitli fully 
carried  out  was  eminently  successful.  I  have,  accn-dingly 
organized  the  Office  into  Divisions  corresponding  with  the 
distinct  classes  of  the  public  business  confided  to  its  charge, 
as  follows  : 

1st.  The  Chief  Clerk.— Sam'l  S.  Rind,  Esq. 
2nd.  The  Chief  Book-keeper. — Albert  Ellery,  Esq.,  and 
Wm.  P.  Lawton,  assistant. 

3rd.  Division  of  Claims. — James  W.  Hampton,  Esq., 
Chief,  and  B.  E.  Portiau.x,  Charles  A.  Rose,  George 
Freaner,  Edward  M.  Clark,  John  Calvert,  and  John  Kern, 
Jr.,  assistants. 

4th.  Division  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department. — A.  T, 
McCallum,  Esq.,  Chief,  and  Richard  L.  Brown,  F.  L.  Brock- 
ett,  C.  S.  Keech,  and  C.  D.  Mclndoe,  assistants. 

5th.  Division  of  the  Commissary's  Department. — Thomas 
C.  Daniel,  Esq.,  Chief,  and  David  A.  Cardwell  and  Tliomas 
Edwards,  assistants. 

6th.  Division  of  the  Pay  Department. — John  J.  Wright, 
Esq.,  Chief,  and  John  McCormick  and  M.  P.  Andrews,  as- 
sistants. 

7th.  Keeper  of  the  Requisition  Records  of  Remittances 
to  Disbursing  Officers  and  for  Payment  of  Adjudicated 
Claims. — James  TI.  Nash,  Esq. 

8th.  Keeper  of  the  Register  of  all  accounts  and  claims, 
letters  and  receipts,  of  every  kind. — Robert  Gnximo. 

9th.  Keeper  and  Recorder  of  all  reports  and  letters  to  be 
recorded. — John  A.  Belvin,  Jr.,  Esq. 

As  yet,  I  have  not  been  able  to  establish  a  Division  for 
the  Ordnance  Engineer  and  Medical  Departments  and  for 
expenditures  on  account  of  the  Indian  service,  which  from 
the  comparative  smallness  of  the  a[)propriations  for  these 
branches  of  the  service,  I  shall  form  into  but  one  as  soon  as 
the  necessary  force  of  competent  accountants  is  provided. 
At  present  the  accounts  rendered  by  these  Bureaux,  arc  scat- 
tered for  settlement  among  all  tlic  otlier  accounting  divisions. 
With  this  organization,  all  working  harmoniously  and  ener- 
getically as  I  have  no  doubt  they  will — intelligent,  well  dis- 
ciplined, and  under  the  immediate  authority  and  direction  of 
the  Auditor,  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  office  will  be 
fully  e([ual  to  all  the  purposes  of  its  establishment,  and  able 
promptly  to  meet  any  demands  that  may  be  made  upon  it. 


7 

and  can  be  expanded  to  any  extent,  or  contracted  as  the  public 
interests  may  require. 

The  answers  to  your  enquiries  will  be  found  in  the  follow- 
ing, taken  from  the  reports  of  the  various  divisions  of  the 
office: 

FROM    THE    CHIEF    BOOK-KEEPER, 

It  appears  that,  as  before  remarked,  that  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Confederate  Government  to  the  31st  of  Decem- 
ber  last,  there  has  been  appropiated  for  military  purposes, 
and  for  the  Indian  service  the  sum  of  $170,163,468  24 
Amount  of  re-payments 149,496  77 


170,312,965  01 
Amount  drawn 1 00,680,729  43 


Balance 69,632,235  58 


Aggregate  amount  of  drafts  on  the  Treasury  by  requisition 
during  the  period  from  23rd  February  to  31st  December, 
1861,  inclusive $100,680,729  43 

Drafts  by  requisition,  charged  to  perso- 
nal accounts 198,941,165  70 

Drafts  by  requisition  for 

the  payment  of  claims        1,739,563  73 

100,680,729  43 

Re-Payments  : 

Amount  of  counter-re- 
quisitions by  transfers      $133,794  09 

Amount  of  counter-re-  "^ 

quisitions  by  deposits 

in  the  Treasury 15,702  68 

149,496  77 

The  aggregate  amount  of  accounts  settled  during  the  pe- 
riod from  23rd  February  to  31st  December,  1861,  inclusive, 
and  comprised  in  528  reports  was  $2,440,919  76,  as  fol- 
lows : 

Accounts  settled  out  of  ad- 
vances made  and  charged 
to  officers  and  agents..  . .   $701,356  03 
Acc'ts  settled  and  charged  to 

the  approp'tions,  (claims)   1,739,563  73 

$2,440,919  76 


8 

He  also  reports  that  421  accounts  have  been  opened. 
This  officer  also  keeps  the  appropriation  books. 

For  the  advances  and  remittances  to  disbursing  officers, 
of  course,  regular  accounts  have  been  opened  upon  the  book- 
keepers' ledgers,  and  each  officer  or  agent  charged  Avith  the 
amount  of  public  funds  he  may  have  received,  either  from 
the  Treasury  direct,  or  from  other  disbursing  officers,  and 
the  accounts  are  accurately  kept  until  finally  closed.  They 
now  number  42 1 ,  and  to  some  officers  there  have  been  ad- 
vanced the  very  large  sums  of  from  over  seven  to  eight  mil- 
lions of  dollars  -within  the  last  eight  months.  The  number 
of  regular  bonded  disbursing  officers,  quartermasters,  com- 
missaries, assistant  quartermasters,  commissaries  and  agents 
is  now  456.  There  is  also  a  number  of  officers  of  the  army, 
engineers  ordnance  and  medical  departments  who  are  disburs- 
ing military  funds  Avithout  ever  having  given  any  bonds,  and 
to  some  of  these,  large  suras  of  money  have  been  advanced 
direct  from  the  Treasury,  in  one  or  two  instances  of  over 
2,(I()0,()(M)  of  dollars.  Besides  these,  there  are  numbers  of 
acting  assistant  quartermasters  and  commissaries  and  agents 
who  receive  and  make  disbursement  of  public  money,  and 
receive  and  issue  public  stores  and  property  who  do  not,  nor 
are  they  required  to  give  bond,  as  their  services  as  such,  are 
of  a  temporary  character,  and  cease  with  the  occasions  which 
require  them.  All  disbursing  officers,  whether  of  money  or 
property,  or  both,  are  b}'^  law,  required  to  render  their  accounts 
quarter  yearly  for  settlement  at  the  Treasury,  from  which 
their  number,  magnitude  and  complication  may  be  easily  in- 
ferred, and  it  is  of  the  greatest  possible  importance  to  the 
public  interests  that  the  force  of  this  office  should  be  suf- 
ficient to  settle  the  accounts  of  such  officers,  within  the  suc- 
ceeding quarter  to  which  they  are  rendered,  that  delinquen- 
cies and  errors  may  be  promptly  discovered  and  corrected, 
and  every  officer  held  to  the  strict  accountability  contem- 
plated 1)y  law. 

As  immediately  connected  with  the  book-keeper,  I  shall 
next  notice  the  keeper  of  the  requisition  books  and  records. 
These  show  that  2,209  requisitions  have  been  issued  by  the 
Secretary  of  War,  signed  by  him  and  the  Comptroller,  and 
signed  l)y  myself,  and  registered  and  charged  upon  the  books 
of  this  office.  Upon  each  has  been  issued  warrants  signed 
by  you  and  the  Comptroller  and  drafts  signed  by  the 
Treasurer  and  Register.  To  each  requisition  for  the 
remittance  of  money,  there  has  been  written  a  letter  of  ad- 


vice  to  the^party  to  whom  the  remitt<anee  was  made,  number- 
ing altogether  1,786,  all  by  the  Requisition  Clerk,  Mr.  Nash. 

From  the Chief  of  the  Division  of  Claims : 

The  business  of  this  division  is  the  examination  and  set- 
tlement of  State  daiins  and  miscellaneous  private  claims 
growing  out  of  the  war. 

Of  the  State  claims  the  first  received  was  that  of  South 
Carolina,  which  State  has  presented  accounts  and  vouchers 
under  the  Act  of  March  11th,  1861,  amounting  to  $1,398,- 
803  17,  on  which  there  has  been  allowed  and  paid  the  sum 
of  $654,774  95,  there  has  been  suspended  and  disallowed, 
of  the  vouchers  acted  on  $137,993  94,  (including  vouchers 
withdrawn  by  the  State),  and  there  remain  in  this  office,  not 
reported  to  the  Comptroller,  $606,0311  68.  Of  this  last 
sum  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  vouchers  have  nearly  all 
received  the  usual  examination,  but  have  remained  suspend- 
ed, because  they  were  mostly  for  the  purchase  of  property 
unaccounted  for,  and  for  other  reasons  heretofore  given. 

From  the  State  of  INIississippi,  a  claim  was  presented  in 
August  last  for  expenditures  growing  out  of  the  war, 
amounting  to  $350,515  80.  An  immediate  partial  settle- 
ment and  payment  were  earnestly  urged ;  and  in  anticipa- 
tion of  provision  lieing  made  by  Congress  such  a  settlement 
was  made  to  the  amount  of  $74,499  48,  which  was  paid  the 
State,  and  additional  payments  of  $7,408  05  and  $10,257 
85  have  been  since  made  on  the  same  claim,  amounting  in 
all  to  $92,165  38. 

From  the  State  of  Tennessee,  a  claim  was  presented  in 
October,  amounting  to  $580,346  71.  This  was  for  supplies 
and  munitions  of  war,  fully  shown  to  have  been  turned  over 
to  the  Confederate  States,  and  there  was  no  difficulty  in 
making  an  award  for  the  full  amount  claimed,  which  Avas  paid 
to  the  State. 

From  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  a  similar  claim  was 
recently  presented,  amounting  to  $54,463  59,  which,  upon 
the  same  grounds  as  the  preceding,  was  allowed  and  paid  the 
State. 

From  the  State  of  Louisiana,  a  claim  was,  on  the  7th  of 
November,  presented  expressly  under  the  Act  of  August 
30th,  (No.  258,)  amounting  to  $760,529  25;  the  accounts 
and  vouchers  in  which,  have  been  fully  examined ;  but  a 
settlement  has  not  been  made,  as  Congress  has  not  authorized 
the  payment  of  claims  under  said  Act. 


10 

As  with  regard  to  South  Carolina,  so  with  Mississippi 
and  Loui.>?iana,  the  major  portion  of  the  accounts  of  said 
States  remaining  in  this  office  unsettled,  (but  which  have 
nearly  all  passed  through  the  usual  course  of  examination) 
are  for  the  purchase  of  supplies,  which  are  not  shown  to  have 
been  applied  to  the  public  service. 

RECAPITULATION  OF  STATE  CLAIMS. 

Amount  clainu-d.       Allowed  and  paid. 

South  Carolina $1,398,803    17  $654,774  95 

Mississippi 350,515  80  92,1G5  38 

Tennessee 580,346   71  580,346  71 

North  Carolina 54,463  59  54,463  59 

Louisiana 760,529  25 

Of  private  claims  of  a  miscellaneous  character,  growing 
eut  of  the  war,  there  have  been  presented,  from  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Government  to  1st  January,  1862,  325, 
Of  these  there  have  been  settled  and  allowed  276,  amounting 
to  §356,862  78,  a  small  part  of  this  sum,  though  allowed, 
had  not  been  paid  on  31st  December,  1861  ;  reported  to  the 
Comptroller  and  not  yet  returned,  11,  amounting  to 
$15,969  94;  suspended  awaiting  further  proofs  14, 
$5,537  62 ;  returned  to  Heads  of  Military  Bureau,  with 
report  as  to  their  merits,  3,  $4,005  00  ;  rejected  as  inadmis- 
sible 4,  $2,278  75;  and  remaining  on  file  unexamined  17, 
amounting  to  $17,870  01.  This  division,  also,  has  charge 
of  the  settlement  of  claims  for  the  arrears  of  pay,  &c.,  due 
deceased  soldiers,  and  so  numerous  and  pressing  have  they 
recently  become,  as  to  retiuire  the  constant  labor  of  three 
clerks.  Already  270  claims  of  this  description  have  been 
presented,  but  in  consequence  of  the  delay  and  difficulty  in 
obtaining  the  service  of  deceased  soldiers  from  the  muster 
rolls,  very  few  of  which  have  yet  been  received  at  this 
office,  only  100  of  the  270  have  been  disposed  of,  amounting 
to  $4,954  81,  leaving  170  yet  unsettled. 
From  the  Chief  of  the  Division  of  the  Qurtermaster's 
Department  is  shown  that  309  accounts  have  been  re- 
ceived, involving  an  expenditure  of $2,825,409  75 

And  that  of  this  number  82   have  been  set- 
tled for  an  expenditure  of.  .  $355,387  55 
And  that  10  have  been  adjusted 
and  referred  to    the  Comp- 
troller     for     his      decision 

amounting  to , 387,017  88 

$748,405  43 


11 

Leaving  217  accounts  unsettled^  representing 

expenditure  amounting  to  the  sum  of .  . .  .  $2,077,004  32" 

From  the  Commissary's  Division  : 

Upon  this  lu-anch  of  the  service  there  has  been  received  of 
money  accounts,  accompanied  by  returns  of  receipts  and 
issues  of  provisions  and  Commissaries  stores  49,  amount- 
ing to !$1 ,229,998  48 

Of  these  34  have  been  settled,  amounting  to.        327,795  45 

Leaving  15  on  hand  unsettled $902,203  03 

The  number  of  provision  returns  received  of  receipts  and 

issues  unaccompanied  by  money  accounts 

is... 241 

Of  these  there  have  been  settled 70 

Leaving  unsettled 171 

From  the  Pay  Division  : 

To  this  division  only  10  accounts  have  been   yet  rendered, 

claiming  an  expenditure  of $386,330  96 

There   have    been    settled    6, 

amountiong  to $   18,173  03 

And  there  have  been  reported 

to  the  Comptroller,  and  not 

yet  returned  to  this  ofiBce,  2 

amounting  to 121,206   48 

139,379  51 

Remaining  unsettled  2  accounts  amounting  to  $246,951   45 

This  division  has  also  had  in  hand  the  only  account  yet 
received  on  account  of  expenditures  of  the  Indian  service, 
that  of  General  Albert  Pike : 

There  were  advanced  to  him  for  this  purpose       $20,000  {){)■ 
And  his  accounts  have  been  settled  showing 

an  expenditure  of 19,429  60 

Balance  in  his  hands  on  settlement $570  40' 

The  keeper  of  the  register  of  accounts,  claims,  letters, 
receipts,  &c.,  reports  that  there  have  been  received  and  re- 


It 

gistered  of  such,  1,525,  besides  a  great  number  of  other 
papers  not  necessary  to  go  upon  the  register.  lie  keeps 
three  several  register  records. 

The  recorder  of  letters  and  reports  states  thrxt  his  books 
show,  that  of  these  there  have  been  recorded  964.  Besides 
these  nearly  as  many  letters  of  enquiry  have  been  written 
and  signed  by  me,  which  I  have  not  thought  necessary  to 
have  recorded, 

RECAPITULATION  : 

Book-keeper — Amount  of  appropriations,  $17(),  163,468  24 
Amount  of  repayments.  ..  149,496  77 

Total $170,312,965  01 

Amount  drawn  out  to  wit : 

By  requisitions  and 
placed  in  the 
hands  of  disburs- 
ing officers $  98,941,165  70 

By  ditto  in  payment 

of  claims 1,739,563  73 

SKiO, 630,729  43 

Remaining    in    the 

Treasury $69,632,235  58 

Division  of  Claims: 

Number  of  claims  received 

60  t,  amounting  to $3,547,182  62 

Number   of   claims    settled 

376,  amounting  to 1,739,563   73 

Remaining    unsettled   224, 

amount $1,807,618  89 

In  the  above  arc  included  270  claims  for  arrears  of  pay 
due  deceased  soldiers  of  the  Confederate  service,  100  of 
which  have  been  allowed  and  paid. 

Accounts  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department : 

No.  settled  92 $  748,405  43 

No.  unsettled  217 2,077,004  32 

$2,825,409  75 


13 

« 

Amount  brought  over $2,825,409  75 

Ditto  Commissary  Department : 

No.  settled  34 $  327,795  45 

No.  unsettled  15 9(12,203  03 

1,229,998  48 

No.  settled  70  (property).  .. 

No.  unsettled  171 

Ditto  Pay  Department : 

No.  settled  8 $   139,379  51 

No.  unsettled  2 246,951   45 

386,330  96 

Indian  Service  : 

No.  settled  1 $     20,000  00 

20,000  00 

Totals  : 

205— $1,235,580  39  405— $3,226,158  80 

$4,461,739   19 

The  numhcr  of  accounts,  receipts,  kc,  received,  has  al- 
ready been  stated  as  reported  by  the  Keeper  of  the  Regis- 
ter. 
Letters  and  reports  written  and  recorded  about 3,000 

I  have  thus.  Sir,  laid  before  you  an  exhibit  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Second  Auditor's  Office,  from  the  date  I  had 
the  honor  to  take  charge  of  it,  to  the  end  of  the  past  year, 
its  present  condition,  inferentially  its  wants  in  regard  to  the 
force  necessary  to  meet  them,  and  the  enormous  demands 
now  being  made,  and  which  must  be  made  upon  its  labors, 
intelligence  and  fidelity.  With  milita  y  appropriations  upon 
its  books,  already  amounting  to  more  than  one  hundred  and 
seventy  millions  of  dollars,  being  about  seventeen  times 
greater  than  all  the  other  appropriations  for  the  support 
of  the  Government  put  together,  with  disbursing 
officers  numerous  enough  for  a  small  army,  with 
claims  the  number  and  extent  of  which  cannot  be 
anticipated,  and  with  numerous  other  matters,  Avhich 
cannot  appear  in  this  Report,  but  which  as  impera- 
tively demand  attention  and  time  as  anything  else,  this 
office  has  now  a  force  of  only  24  men — a  force  so  totally  in- 
adequate and  disproportioned  as  only  to  be  mentioned  to 
carry  conviction  to  every  one  of  its  utter  inability,  no  mat- 
ter how  industrious  and  laborious,  promptly  to   dispatch  all 


14 

the  business  in  its  various  branches   and   ramifications  that 
may  be  brought  before  it. 

1,  therefore,  in  full  view  of  all  the  circumstances  in  which 
the  office  is  placed,  and  of  the  public  interests,  earnestly 
suggest  that  the  force  of  the  office  be  at  once  filled  up  as 
follows : 

Book  keep.^rs 2 

L)ivision  of  Claims 8 — 10 

Division  of  the  Quartermasters'   Depjirtment       12 
"  "      Subsistence  "  10 

**  "      Ordnance,  Engineer,  Medical 

and  Indian  Departments 5 

Requisitions 1 

Register 1 

Recorder 1 

50 

Fifty  industrious,  intelligent  and  energetic  men,  in  my 
judgment,  are  not  one  more  than  will  be  absolutely  required. 
The  immense  and  increasing  number  of  reports,  letters.  &c., 
requiring  the  examination  and  signature  of  the  Auditor, 
will  soon  render  it  almost  ))hysically  impossible  for  him  to 
accomplish  it,  if  he  attends  to  that  alone.  I,  therefore,  re- 
commend the  almost  absolute  necessity  of  the  appointment 
of  an  Assistant  Chief  Clerk,  under  far  more  pressing  cir- 
cumstances, precisely  as  was  provided  for  the  Third  Audi- 
tor's office  in  Washington,  by  the  following  Act  of  tlie  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  to  wit:  Civil  and  diplomatic 
appropriation  Act  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1852,  ap- 
proved March  3d,  1851  :  Cbapter  32,  section  4:  And  be  it 
further  enacted,  &c.  Tbat  to  assist  the  Third  Auditor  in 
more  effectually  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  the  Bounty 
Land  Act,  and  ot/ier  presshig  business  in  his  office,  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to 
appoint  an  Assistant  Chief  Clerk,  to  be  chosen  from  the  ex- 
perienced accountants  already  in  said  office,  who,  with  the 
present  Chief  Clerk,  shall  have  authority  to  sign  and  attest 
such  official  business  as  said  Auditor  shall  apj)rove  and  di- 
rect.    See  L.  &  B.  laws,  U.  S.,  vol.  6,  page  618. 

The  salary  I  recommend  to  be  fourteen  hundred  dollars 
per  annum. 


IS 

In  furnishing  the  office,  both  my  Chief  Clerk  and  myself, 
have,  from  the  beginning,  endeavored  to  practice  and  enforce 
the  strictest  economy.  Waste  of  every  kind  we  have  stead- 
ily discountenanced,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  prevented.  The 
desks  are  of  the  plainest  description,  consistent  with  the 
purposes  intended,  being  ordinary  pine,  costing  about  twen- 
tj'^-two  dollars  each.  My  own  table  cost  less  than  any  in 
the  office,  being  only  nineteen  dollars. 

I  cannot  close  this  report,  without  calling  your  attention 
to  the  present  salaries  of  the  office.  INIy  Chief  Clerk,  Avith 
the  largest  experience,  and  of,  by  far,  as  previously  shown, 
the  heaviest  office  under  the  Government,  and  with  corres- 
pondingly arduous  duties  to  perform,  receives  fourteen  hun- 
dred 'loVars  less  than  any  other  Avhatsoever,  as  a  reference  to 
the  Department  proper,  including  the  Post  Office,  and  the 
other  civil  bureaux  will  show.  I  will  not  deal  in  compari- 
sons, as  was  the  common  practice  of  the  corrupt  and 
wretched  Government,  we  have  so  happily  abandoned,  but 
choose,  rather,  the  more  manly  course  of  putting  the  claims 
of  my  Chief  Clerk  and  others,  that  I  shall  presently  men- 
tion, upon  their  own  merits  solely  and  alone.  Without  any 
reference,  therefore,  to  others,  governed  by  the  strictest 
principles  of  economy,  and  the  fiiiancial  wants  and  sacrifices 
of  the  Confederacy,  I  earnestly  recommend  that  the  salary 
of  my  Chief  Clerk  may  be  placed  at  sixteen  hundred  dollars, 
which  is  four  hundred  dollars  less  than  he  was  paid  as  Chief 
Clerk  of  the  Third  Auditor's  office  in  Washington. 

For  the  same  reasons,  I  also  recommend  a  salary  of  four- 
teen hundred  dollars  for  each  of  the  Chiefs  of  the  following 
Divisions,  to  wit : 

The  Chief  Book  keeper, 
"         "■     of  the  Division  of  Claims, 

"         "         "  "  of  the  Q'rmaster's  Department, 

"  "  "  "  of  the  Commissary's          " 

"  of  the  Pay 

"         "         "  '*  of    the  Ordnance,     Engineer, 

&c.,  Department. 

Young  John  T.  Booth  has  most  faithfully,  in  all  respects, 
to  the  satisfaction  of  myself  and  the  whole  office,  performed 
the  duties  of  Messenger,  and  I,  therefore,  recommend  tliat 
his  salary  be  increased  from  3U0  to  500  dollars,  the  same 
that  is  paid  to  the  Messengers  of  all  the  rest  of  the  bureaux. 


16 

I  bc"',  also,  to  be  allowed  a  negro  laborer,  to  do  the  very  la- 
borious dutv  of  bringing  fuel  up  to  the  fourth   story  of  the 
building  we  occupy,  and  other  drudgeries,  now  indispensa- 
ble from  the  increased  and  increasing  size  of  the  office. 
I  am,  with  great  respect. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

W.  II.  S.  TAYLOR, 

Auditor. 


liiiuu^tm 


\  v. 


:^._> 


>,  iBisi-' "-V^ 


^  :•  ^; 


